Tonal (mythology)

Tonal is a concept within the study of Mesoamerican religion, myth, folklore and anthropology. It is a belief found in many indigenous Mesoamerican cultures that a person upon being born acquires a close spiritual link to an animal, a link that lasts throughout the lives of both creatures. The person shows signs of whatever the animal's situation to include scratches and bruises if the animals get in fights, or illness if the animal is ill. It is in this way similar to the concept of Totem.

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The word comes from the Nahuatl word tonalli, meaning "day" or "daysign". In the Aztec belief system the day of a person's birth calculated in the Tonalpohualli would determine the nature of the person – each day was associated with an animal which could have a strong or weak aspect. The person born on the day of for example "the dog" would then have the strong or weak aspect of the dog. In Nahuatl the word Tonalli was used to refer both to a day and to the animal related to that day. In Mayan belief the concept of an animal companion of a person was referred to as "Way". The modern Mixe people refer to it as Ts'ok (Lipp 1991). The Jakaltek Maya people of Concepcion Huista, Guatemala call it yixomal ispiẍan nax, meaning "soul bearer".